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My mind spun as I tried to think back to that week and if there had been anyone new hanging around. I truly couldn’t remember a man showing interest. If there had been, I had simply brushed it away like I usually did, uninterested in a relationship with any of the occasional men that would try to flirt with me. And now it didn’t matter because whatever I had done to reject him had set his sights on revenge. I wondered if it had been the same for all the other women. I briefly wondered why the FBI hadn’t connected us all with a secret admirer.
“Imagine my surprise when he brought back a person to dump in the back of that shitty truck? I followed you out into the woods. I couldn’t go any further, or else you might have seen me, and it was too soon for that. But once the truck came back down that same dirt road, I pulled my car out of the trees where I had waited. Instead of following you back to town, I decided to see what you were up to.”
He stopped by my side as a cold dread washed over me. “Such a surprise to find this little cabin in the woods. What were you up to last night, little bird?” Oh god. That’s why everything seemed familiar. I was in the same cabin that Brent had brought me to. His kill room.
“I liked you the best.” He snarled as he slowly walked around the table. “You looked more like her than any of the others. You have that same shade of gold in your hair.” I flinched when he touched my hair, running his fingers over it. It was the wrong thing to do.
Even though my throat was raw and I had already screamed myself hoarse, I still managed to scream as I felt the knife sink in.
Thirty-Four
ETHAN
I was already pullingup to the diner when the call came in over the radio that there was a person threatening people with a gun at the diner. Fear, rage, and adrenaline coalesced in my body, giving me an extra burst of speed as I crashed through the door of the diner.
My abrupt entrance had everyone turning to me in shock, giving Brent enough of a chance to yank the gun out of the old woman’s hands. Jared immediately spun her around, slapping cuffs on her as she cried out in fury. I ignored her struggles and curses, my eyes scanning the room for Casey, not seeing her anywhere.
My heart threatened to beat out of my chest as I turned to Brent. “Where the fuck is Casey?”
His eyes grew wide, and he turned to look at the counter. “She was right there a few minutes ago.”
“Fuck!” I bellowed and ran for the back of the restaurant, slamming through the swinging doors with Brent hot on my heels. “Casey!” I threw open the stockroom door, letting it bang against the wall. Not finding her there, I ran to the office next, seeing through the open door that the small room was empty.
Brent turned, ran back through the door, and turned down the hall for the restrooms. He opened the women’s as I ran straight for the men’s. We turned to each other, our chests heaving. As one, we turned to the backdoor, noticing right away that it was cracked, leaving a sliver of sunlight at the opening.
I shoved the door open and looked around the empty alley. Nothing but the large dumpster and a silver cat that yowled, hissed, and darted off. I ran to the dumpster, pulling myself up to the edge to peer over, seeing nothing but bags of trash.
“Casey!” Brent’s frantic yell had pain filling my chest.
“Come on,” I called and started running around the building. I needed to get to my laptop that was still sitting on my desk at the office.
We both jumped in the car as I threw it into gear, hitting the emergency lights. Everyone needed to get the fuck out of my way. I drove recklessly, not bothering to stop for signs or lights, only my destination mattering to me. Other cars slammed on their brakes as I weaved around them. I had to stomp on the brake letting out a vicious curse as I came to a line of cars. The Mustang fishtailed, coming to a stop inches away from the bumper of the car in front of mine.
A loud whistle sounded as the train slowly crept by. The town was notorious for having one set of railroad tracks, and the train that came through was always long and slow. I punched the steering wheel. “Goddamn it!” It had just started crossing the barriers and would likely take a good five minutes to pass. Five minutes that Casey might not have.
I ran my hands roughly over my face as I squeezed my eyes closed.
“I’m sorry.” The harsh whisper that came from Brent had me opening my eyes again as I dropped my head against the back of the seat and stared up at the visor.
“What happened?” My words were much calmer than I felt, but blowing up at Brent when he was already obviously in pain wouldn’t help.
“The woman came in with her fucking gun,” he rasped out. “She had it pointed right at Grace’s chest. I thought,” he shuddered. “I thought she was safe. She was standing at the counter. I only wanted to get the gun away from that woman before she killed someone.”
I looked over at him to see him staring down at his lap. He still had the gun in his hand. I reached over and gripped his free hand with mine. “You did nothing wrong. I would have done the same thing.”
He shook his head. “There was already that cop in there and your dad. They didn’t need me.Sheneeded me.“ He looked over at me, his eyes red-rimmed. “I got her killed.”
I leaned over, grabbed him by the back of his neck, and glared. “No, you fucking didn’t. She’s alive. And we will find her.”
He shook his head, his watery eyes bouncing back and forth between mine. “How do you know that? How could you possibly know that?” I took our joined hands and raised them to his chest, right over his heart.
“Because we would know here if she were gone.” He closed his eyes, a wave of grief washing over his features.
“I don’t want to lose her.”
“We won’t.” My tone was final. I had to believe it, or I would be drowning in pain and unable to function. She needed me at my best so I could rescue her. I leaned in and kissed him fiercely before letting go and putting my hands back on the wheel. The end of the train was in sight, and the station was only another mile down the road. I would have her location within a few minutes.
My foot itched to hit the gas as soon as the cars started moving forward. “Get out of the fucking way, assholes,” I gritted out through clenched teeth. “Fuck!” It was taking too long. My lights were already flashing. The fucking drivers should have been pulling to the side already. If I could give every single one of them a ticket, I would have.
